The next part of our trip gets a bit convoluted. Originally, we were heading straight from Cincinnati to visit my sister, Linda, in Peoria before heading home. Then, Scott decided he wanted to detour to Nashville to visit the American Picker's store. So, I rearranged the end of the trip and made hotel reservations in Nashville.
Then, as we were heading south from Cincinnati, Scott decided he didn't want to drive all the way to Nashville and back. Fortunately, the Best Western in Nashville cancelled our reservation even though the website said I couldn't. It never hurts to ask! Thanks, BW. I am, after all, a loyal customer.
So, instead of just turning around, we decided to hit Mammoth Cave National Park ...
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| Mammoth Cave |
... and Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area ...
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| An eastern Bison |
Both are in Kentucky.
Mammoth Cave National Park
Both Scott and I had already visited Mammoth Cave National Park -- me in 2000 and him way back in 1959. So, this wasn't a new National Park for us, but we did participate in a different tour than I had done before. Of course, Scott can't recall what tour he did when he was six (I suspect the tours were different then).
There are multiple tours offered in different parts of the cave, varying in length, time (2-6 hours), difficulty and price ($11-55 for an adult). Many parts of the cave are lit, but some tours are taken with paraffin lamps, just like early cavers used. We went on the Frozen Niagara Tour, which is the shortest, but covers all the different types of formations all in one area. It begins at a different entrance than the other tours (it is in the far lower righthand corner of the cave map).
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| Map: NPS |
To get to this tour, we took a bus and entered through an air-locked door. Like all cave tours, it was led by Park Ranger.
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| Off to our tour |
The upper sandstone caprock under which the caves formed is relatively hard for water to penetrate except where cracks occur. Therefore, many of the older, upper passages are dry, with no stalactites, stalagmites or other formations that require flowing or dripping water to develop. But, the caprock layer has been dissolved and eroded at many locations. Where water enters the cave, the areas are still "alive," with formations constantly forming. Frozen Niagara is "alive." Because oil from the skin can seal off growing parts of the cave, tourists must be careful not to leave the paved paths or touch anything other than the railings.
This tour was very impressive in a very small area -- there wasn't any climbing and very little walking.
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| Views of the cave |
The first white person to "discover" Mammoth Cave was either John or Francis Houchin, who found an entrance in 1797 while tracking a Bear.
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| Cavern wall |
Beginning in 1798, the cave was the site of commercial mining of saltpeter, which became important during the War of 1812 (saltpeter is in gunpowder). After the war when prices fell, Mammoth Cave became a minor tourist attraction with slaves serving as tour guides. In fact, it was a slave guide who, during the 1840s and 1850s, made the first extensive maps of the cave and named many of the cave's features. During part of that time, the cave also served as a tuberculosis hospital, based on the idea that the air in the cave would provide a cure. It didn't.
For many years, Mammoth Cave was privately owned and operated as a tourist attraction.
In 1925. an explorer dislodged a rock onto his leg while in a tight crawlway and was unable to be rescued before dying of starvation. The resulting publicity initiated a movement that resulted in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park in 1926. But, it took until 1941 to purchase and clear enough land to officially open the park. Since then, more land has been purchased and many more parts of the cave have been discovered.
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| Escalator |
Five types of Bats inhabit the cave, but many have died of the white nose fungus that has been spreading throughout American Bat populations. We did not see any Bats.
There are also two varieties of Cave Crickets ...
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| On the ceiling |
The Ranger told us that many people believe that the cave is named after the Woolly Mammoth (I had never heard this), but that the name merely refers to the cave's size. No fossils of the Woolly Mammoth have ever been found in Mammoth Cave. Interestingly, many examples of the woolly mammoth have been discovered at the Big Bone Lick State Park two and a half hours northeast in northern Kentucky.
Outside the cave, we didn't see anything except lots of butterflies -- most of them Red-spotted Purple Butterflies.
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| Pretty butterfly |
Land Between the Lakes NRA
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area sits on a piece of land between two lakes -- Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, which are formed by dams just to the north.
The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers flow very close to each other in the northwestern corner of Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, separated by a narrow low ridge. The area of land that separates the two bodies of water by only a few miles was known as "Between the Rivers" since at least the 1830s or 1840s. The Tennessee was dammed in the 1940s, creating Kentucky Lake. Then, the Cumberland River was dammed in the 1960s and a canal was constructed between the two lakes. Now called "Land Between the Lakes," it is the largest inland peninsula in the U.S. Downstream, the two rivers diverge; the Cumberland empties into the Ohio River approximately four miles from where the Tennessee joins the Ohio. Originally managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, jurisdiction for the area has since transferred to the U.S. Forest Service. (map: clarksvilleonline.com)
A road that runs down the middle is called "The Trace," short for "Buffalo Trace" because it followed a winding bison path. The park has a museum, a planetarium, an environmental education area, hiking trails, boat ramps, an off-road vehicle area, campgrounds, group lodges, cabins, a 700-acre elk and bison enclosure and a small wildlife zoo.
There are lots of campsites in the park, but it was Labor Day weekend and most were taken. We managed to get at site on the eastern side of the park in Lake Barkley Resort. There are several such resorts around the park. They include campsites, lodges, cabins, pools, tennis courts, marinas and other resort-type facilities. Our campsite was large and wooded. I wondered why we were able to get in, but then we learned that the beaches were closed because of bacteria in the water. No swimming and no access to the shore. Well, there went night sky photography!
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| Camping |
We didn't really spend a lot of time in the park. We did drive through the Elk and Bison reserve. I had been to the area a few years ago on my way to Florida and never saw any Elk or Bison. This time, we saw both -- the Elk back in the trees and the Bison spread out across the road.
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| A bit too close? |
For dinner, we had an authentic southern dinner at Willow Pond Southern Catfish near the park. The decor was definitely 80's. The waitress had the heaviest southern accent I had heard in years. The catfish was yummy, the hushpuppies a bit heavy, the coleslaw so-so and the white beans a lot better than I expected. The clientele seemed to be heavily local -- probably many people with vacation homes in the area.
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| Southern dinner |
Peoria
Our next stop was back up north in Peoria, Illinois, for a brief visit with my sister, Linda. Her husband, Robert, was out in Montana on an artist-in-residence sabbatical, but we were able to spend time with Linda, my nephew Andrew, his wife Caitlynn and their son Liam.
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| Liam at the Museum |
We spent some quality time at the RiverFront Museum, a great hand's on kids' museum that had a special space exhibit. Liam, who fell in love with Scott, had a great time.
Trip date: August 12-September 5, 2016
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